There really was a French diplomat stationed in Beijing who didn't realize that his Chinese lover was actually a man. Technically, M. Butterfly is that tale. Actually, it's David Cronenberg's newest foray into the madness-charged realm of naked flesh and raw emotions. M. Butterfly lacks the overt gore and craziness of Cronenberg's previous films, but it's still a relentless drive to destruction.
Jeremy Irons plays the diplomat who's more attracted to the idea of femininity than he is to women. John Lone plays the cross-dressing Chinese opera singer who fulfills Iron's female ideal. Mao Zedong is the chair of the Chinese Communist Party, which is staging the Cultural Revolution around them.
Cronenberg is one of the most daring and interesting filmmakers currently working, but M. Butterfly is too tame for the master of such modern classics as Naked Lunch, Videodrome, and Dead Ringers. Even Cronenberg's statements about sexual and cultural conditioning are offered in a placid manner, as if he were warming up for a gig on Masterpiece Theatre.
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